Last season, Genève-Servette won the Champions Hockey League and it’s guaranteed there will be another Swiss team in the final this year. It doesn’t appear that Genève will make a return trip, however, following a convincing 6-1 home loss to ZSC Lions Zurich in the first leg of their semifinal matchup. Zurich is the only other European club champion to ever come from Switzerland, having won the original CHL season back in 2008-09.
Rudolfs Balcers, who missed three CHL games and over two months of National League action with a broken ankle, scored twice and added an assist, while Sven Andrighetto, Juho Lammikko, Jesper Frödén and Derek Grant recorded two points each as the Lions won their first CHL game since the resignation of head coach Marc Crawford in late December. The two points return Andrighetto to top spot in CHL scoring with 19 points.
“I think we’re happy leaving here with a 6-1 score, heading back home,” said Balcers. “It was a weird game. I thought they played well at the start.”
It took Zurich just 1:18 to open the scoring when Yannick Zehnder converted a rebound off the rush. Markus Granlund appeared to tie it for Genève midway through the first period but Zurich challenged the play for offside, overturning the goal. A short time later, Nicolas Baechler made it 2-0 for the Lions, who never looked back.
Earlier in the CHL season, veteran goaltender Antti Raanta looked like a savior for Genève, allowing only four goals total in his first four games. This game, however, he allowed four goals on 14 shots before being lifted in favor of backup Robert Mayer after the 4-0 goal at 27:45.
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“There were a couple of bad bounces at the beginning and then after 4-0 … it’s embarrassing because I feel like we gave up,” said Genève defenseman Theodor Lennström. “In front of our home fans, it’s terrible, it’s embarrassing.”
With the score 6-0 with 12:35 left, Eric Schneller broke Šimon Hrubec’s shutout and made Genève’s task next week in Zurich slightly less hopeless.
At this point, it looks more than likely that the CHL final will pit Zurich against Swedish club Färjestad Karlstad, as both teams will play their second legs at home with aggregate leads of five and four goals, respectively. On Tuesday night, Färjestad beat Sparta Prague 6-2 in the Czech capital. Both return games will be played next Tuesday, Jan. 21.